Deutsche Bank open-sources code from its trading platform

Deutsche Bank has released over 150,000 lines of code from its Autobahn electronic trading platform. The company said the decision to open-source parts of the technology is intended to create a "common industry standard" for automated trading systems.

The code contains components that network "thousands" of different banking applications from across the financial services industry. It enables communication between different computer systems at banks and their customers. Called Plexus Interop, the system is part of the wider Autobahn trading platform developed by Deutsche Bank.

Cloud-based trading

The release is significant for several reasons. Deutsche Bank said it wants the code to be integrated into trading applications written by external vendors. It will offer a "shared foundation" for different trading platforms, allowing them to exchange data with each other. The result will be an interoperable, cloud-based trading network based on a common set of open-source components.

The initiative is a first for the traditionally closed financial services market. It's a prominent example of the change being necessitated by digital transformation and new cloud platforms. Customers expect information to flow seamlessly between providers so they can harness the full potential of their data pools. The days of siloed data inside closed ecosystems are gone.

Seamless trading between platforms

If Deutsche Bank's vision comes to fruition, trading data could seamlessly pass between different platforms. Trading platforms that include the code will talk to each other, allowing customers to get more insights from their data and make better trading decisions.

Deutsche Bank said that market participants currently have to use different services to monitor their trading activity, data and news sources. Plexus Interop offers a solution where a single platform could combine all three tasks.

The milestone release is also a step forward for Deutsche Bank's own digital transformation. The company said it wants to be a "leader" in open-source tech within banking.

"We want to be a leader in open source technology in the banking sector," said Peter Wharton-Hood, COO of Deutsche Bank's Corporate & Investment Bank. "By making this code publicly available, we aim to create a common industry standard that will deliver a faster and more convenient service to clients, strengthen controls and reduce costs."

To many providers, the concept of releasing the code to proprietary platforms would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. However, the demand from customers for interoperable solutions has necessitated a shift towards open standards that anyone can integrate with and pull data from.

The first application to use the Plexus Interop code is Symphony, a collaboration platform that's widely used within the financial services market. Users of the messaging service will be able to access trading data from within the app, evolving the way in which banks operate.